Thursday, March 7, 2013

Cat Thursday: Demands



Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

Cats can be quite demanding, especially when it comes to food.





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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Six Sisters' Stuff {Review and Giveaway}

 

My thoughts:
Wow! This is such a great book. I am a huge lover of cookbooks. I have quite a collection and I'm so thrilled to add this one to it. I'm always looking for cookbooks that offer simple recipes for busy moms like me, yet are delicious and kid friendly. This is that book. Chock full of recipes, fun craft projects, and even some great 'tips and tricks' lists, Six Sisters' Stuff is definitely going to be a go to resource in my home.

I was able to try out one of the recipes last week. I made the 20-Minute Skillet Lasagna (pages 10-11). Yum! My boys loved it. Although the image is poor quality (darn cell phone), I took a picture of the finished product...


Oh, and for all of us book lovers out there, this lovely book has a tutorial for making bookshelves out of pallets! It seemed relatively simple so putting that on my 'to-do someday' list. You can find the Pallet Bookshelves tutorial on pages 12-13.


Building Families One Meal at a Time: Six Sisters Release New Cook-Craft-Create Book

With busy schedules, after-school activities, late workdays and long commutes, is sitting down to a family dinner still possible?

The authors of Six Sisters’ Stuff (Shadow Mountain, ISBN: 978-1-60907-324-4, $21.99, March 2013) say YES!


In their debut cookbook, the sisters (yes, six biological sisters— Camille, Kristen, Elyse, Stephanie, Lauren, and Kendra) show families just how simple putting dinner on the table can be. From Baked Chicken Fajitas to Slow Cooker Pot Roast Sliders to Mini Oreo Cheesecakes, Six Sisters’ Stuff has nearly 100 easy-to-follow recipes that use ingredients commonly found in your pantry. Each recipe includes easy-to-follow instructions and photographs that eliminate any guess work.

Six Sisters’ Stuff evolved from the sisters’ blog SixSistersStuff.com, that began in February 2011 out of their love to cook, craft, and create. After years of living close to one another, they suddenly found themselves living in different parts of the country and used the blog to stay in touch and share ideas. In just two short years, SixSistersStuff.com has quickly become one of the most popular food and craft blogs, receiving on average 5 million page views per month, with over 130,000 Facebook fans and more than 190,000 Pinterest followers (as of 2/7/13).

Six Sisters’ Stuff also includes a collection of simple and inexpensive craft ideas – how to make hand puppets, felt bows, decorative wreaths, and more – plus lists of fun family activities for road trips, entertaining rainy-day ideas, healthy snack suggestions, and even some recommendations for cheap date nights. This family-focused cookbook is really more of an idea book to help families create fun, lasting memories together.


Join the Family Dinner Challenge
According to Pew Research , only about half of families make dinner a daily ritual and another third eat together a few times a week. Roughly one in 5 families (20%) eat together only occasionally or never. In conjunction with the book’s release, on March 4, 2013, SixSistersStuff.com will launch a 4x4 Dinner Challenge. Families are encouraged to eat together as a family at least four times a week for four weeks. Families can register online at www.SixSistersStuff.com and receive meal tips, ideas for family activities, and helpful recipes to assist in making this challenge a reality. “We grew up knowing the importance of feeding our families a home-cooked meal and sitting down to eat it together,” said Camille, the oldest sister. “Even the busiest of people can make the food and project ideas we share, which will give you even more time to spend with your family and loved ones.”

To enter the giveaway, do one of these two things:
1) Like the Six Sister’s STUFF facebook page and comment that you are joining the 4x4 Dinner Challenge
https://www.facebook.com/SixSistersStuff

2) Click the 4x4 Family dinner banner on the website www.SixSistersStuff.com (on the right sidebar) and leave a comment that you are joining the challenge.

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Monday, March 4, 2013

A Reading Life--March Reading Plans


This feature was inspired by It's Monday! What are you reading? hosted by Sheila at Book Journey and also by The Sunday Salon.

So, February wasn't so hot for me in the reading department. Big surprise! I only managed to finish two books. A Tainted Dawn by B.N. Peacock and The Shining by Stephen King. I was supposed to have finished Les Miserables, but I am still struggling with that one. =O(  I also should have finished Gone Girl, but found myself straggling along with it as well. Not that I'm not loving it and I'm almost done, but still.... I also failed miserably at Carl's (Stainless Steel Droppings) The Science Fiction Experience, not reading one SciFi book (I had originally intended to read Dune and then decided to start The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but haven't finished it either). Miserable failing all around.


Moving on...

I did not schedule any book tours in March (with the exception of a cookbook, which I am reviewing on Wednesday) so I could participate in the Take Control of your TBR Pile challenge hosted by Kimba. There is also a read-a-thon on March 15 - 18 in which I will participate. I will probably read one review book, The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry so I can move on to his new one, Wildish, in early April.

Other books I'm reading for sure:
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguru (TuesBookTalk)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (#marmeeon @ Fizzy Thoughts)

Continuing:
Les Miserables
Crime and Punishment
The Waste Lands by Stephen King
(all of the above I'm reading slowly so they won't count for the challenge)

If I have any wiggle room, I'll decide what I want to read from my own shelves (of course, all of these books are from my home library, except for the review books for Robert Parry)


Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia and is being hosted by Chaotic Compendiums this month.  (You can click the book covers in the BookBox to read book descriptions on Amazon)

BookBox: embed book widget, share book list


WON:
Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn...from Fantasy Literature

FOR REVIEW/BOOK TOURS:
Blood Between Queens by Barbara Kyle...from HFVBT--book tours

Who Was Dracula?: Bram Stoker's Trail of Blood by Jim Steinmeyer...from Penguin Group (unsolicited)

Six Sisters' Stuff...from Deseret Book publicist


Wildish by Robert Parry...from the author

From my good friend, Kai, at Fiction State of Mind:
Eyes to See by Joseph Nassise
Poison Princess by Kresley Cole
Ironskin by Tina Connolly

Book Bingo at my son's school:
Crazy Ladies by Michael Lee West

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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Cat Thursday: Happy Birthday, Alice!



Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Enjoy! (share your post in the Mr. Linky below)

Alice's 6th birthday was this past Sunday. We're lucky because we know the exact date of her birth, February 24 (thanks to the nice people we got her from all those years ago). We couldn't be any more lucky. She is a wonderful part of our family...sweet and good-natured. And she's awesome for accepting her new little sister, Arya, with open arms paws. Happy Birthday, you gorgeous, black beauty! Of course, the boys had to get in on the act. ;O)







Alice wasn't exactly loving it this year. LOL!

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

TuesBookTalk March Selection: The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro


TuesBookTalk Read-a-Longs on Twitter (@tuesbooktalk  #tuesbooktalk) and on Goodreads will be reading the historical fiction title, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, in March. Our first discussion will be on Tuesday, March 5.  Our chats take place on Twitter at 9:30pm ET/8:30pm CT on Tuesday nights (see hashtag above).  If you can't join us on Twitter, feel free to share your thoughts in the Goodreads group.  Get the full reading schedule HERE.  Hope you will join us!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Auto-Buy Authors


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

(Note: I generally do not buy books when they first come out, but these are the authors whose books I will buy no matter what; also, I didn't list any classics authors because it's a given that I buy classics)

  1. Anne Rice - Of course! She has been my favorite author since my late teens. Although there is another author on the list that I've been reading longer (see #2), Anne will always be my favorite. Even though I still haven't made it through all of her titles (though I have reread Vampire Chronicles book 1 - 4 and Queen of the Damned, Book 3, four times!), I love her work and I think she is an awesome human being. Just join her page on Facebook and see how she interacts with her fans. You'll see that she is truly wonderful.
  2. Stephen King - Another no-brainer! Anyone who knows me, knows I love him. I mean, I've been reading him since I was in junior high. In fact, I'm reading him now (The Shining and Book 4 of the Dark Tower series, The Waste Lands). I've always enjoyed being scared and Stephen King knows just how to scare us. It's not always obvious and then sometimes it is, but either way, he is the master of scary, in my opinion. (Check out my perpetual Stephen King reading challenge HERE)
  3. Terry Brooks - I fell in love with this fantasy author's writing with the Magic Kingdom of Landover series. Of course, he also wrote the Shannara series, of which I've only read the first book, but I have almost the entire series and I will continue to look for the rest, as well as buying anything new he has to offer.
  4. J.K. Rowling - I will probably buy anything she writes. I haven't purchased The Casual Vacancy yet, but give me time. I'm just loyal to an author who could create the incredible world of Harry Potter. 
  5. Ken Follett - I'm not a fan of the genre Follett typically wrote in previously...basically espionage/war time thrillers. Then my library was recommending The Pillars of the Earth as their book club selection and I checked it out. My life was changed forever. It was incredible. I have since read World Without End, the second Kingsbridge cathedral book, and these remain two of my favorite historical novels. I own Fall of Giants and I will continue to auto-buy Follett, as long as he keeps writing in the historical genre.
  6. George R. R. Martin - Discovered in 2011 with A Game of Thrones (my favorite read that year), I now know that I will read anything he writes.
  7. Peter Straub - Another horror author who scared the crap out of me with Ghost Story. I have all of his books and will continue to buy his new ones.
  8. Christopher Gortner - He wrote a fantastic historical novel about one of my favorite historical figures, Juana of Castile, The Last Queen, and his novel about her mother, Isabella of Castile, The Queen's Vow, was equally good. I will continue to be a loyal fan of his work.
  9. Robert Parry - I have never been floored so much by an independent author's work as I was by Parry's Virgin and the Crab. A meticulous and well-researched fictional account of the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I and John Dee, I was so impressed by it that I know any work by him will have the same effect. (I'm currently reading The Arrow Chest and will be reading his new book, Wildish, soon)
  10. M. J. Rose - I have read two books in her Reincarnationist series and will be reading her new title, The Seduction, coming up this summer. She writes with a wonderful blend of the past and present and I really enjoy that. 

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Friday, February 22, 2013

HFVBT: {Review and Giveaway} A Tainted Dawn by B.N. Peacock

GIVEAWAY WINNER:  LINDA (winner has been emailed)


My thoughts:
I have to say that I'm somewhat puzzled by the mixed reviews this book has received. One reviewer on Goodreads gave it a very low rating due to spelling errors and its being poorly produced...having read only 6 pages in. Really? In my case, I must rule on the side of the more favorable reviews. I found myself captivated early on by Peacock's portrayal of the era. I really felt as if I was present in the story. However, it's when we arrive at the seagoing portion of the story where Peacock really hits her stride. A very interesting and often disturbing look at what life must have been like on the ships of the 18th century. No thank you, I say!

In all, the story of the three boys...Jemmy, Edward and Louis...makes for very interesting historical fiction. This being the first book in a planned series, I'm looking forward to reading the next installment. A promising debut for this author.

Note: I really took to heart something the author said in her acknowledgements, "And last, to my mother, who longed for, but never lived to see this day." Thank you, Ms. Peacock. I have been talking about writing my book for years (I have actually started it) and it is something my mom has dreamed for. You have inspired me to get moving. I want my mom to be around when my book is finally published.


About the book:
Publication Date: March 1, 2012 | Fireship Press | 352p

August 1789. The Rights of Man. Liberty. Equality. Idealism. Patriotism.

A new age dawns.

And yet, old hostilities persist: England and Spain are on the brink of war. France, allied by treaty with Spain, readies her warships. Three youths--the son of an English carpenter, the son of a naval captain, an the son of a French court tailor--meet in London, a chance encounter that entwines their lives thereafter. The English boys find themselves on the same frigate bound for the Caribbean. The Frenchman sails to Trinidad, where he meets an even more zealous Spanish revolutionary. As diplomats in Europe race to avoid conflict, war threatens to erupt in the Caribbean, with the three youths pitted against each other.

Will the dawn of the boys' young manhood remain bright with hope? Or will it become tainted with their countrymen's spilt blood?

Praise for A Tainted Dawn

"As America is born, the superpowers of Europe clash with one another for power and territory. A Tainted Dawn is a historical novel set at the end of the eighteenth century, as the powers of Europe head off to war. Following youths of these nations as they find their way through their lives and the conflict, A Tainted Dawn creates a riveting setting with plenty of twists and turns that should prove difficult to put down, very much recommended." - The Midwest Book Review

"Barbara Peacock has a masterful knowledge of both nautical lore and the history and politics of the age. Her characters are sympathetic, and they come alive though her writing. She deftly captures the spirit of this fascinating and critical time, both its positive and negative aspects. Her characters inhabit a world that is squalid, gritty , and dangerous, but not without hope." - Robin E. Levin, The Death of Carthage


About the Author:
B. N. Peacock’s love of history started in childhood, hearing stories of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire from her immigrant grandparents. They related accounts handed down from their grandparents about battlefields so drenched in blood that grass cut there afterwards oozed red liquid. Such tales entranced her. These references probably dated to the time of the Napoleonic Wars. No wonder she was drawn to this time period. 

In addition to history, she showed an equally early proclivity for writing, winning an honorable mention in a national READ magazine contest for short stories. The story was about history, of course, namely the battle of Bunker Hill as seen from the perspective of a British war correspondent.

The passion for writing and history continued throughout high school and undergraduate studies. She was active in her high school newspaper, eventually becoming its editor-in-chief. After graduation, she majored in Classical Studies (Greek and Latin) at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, PA. In her junior year, life took one of those peculiar turns which sidetrack one. A year abroad studying at Queen Mary College, University of London in England led to the discovery of another passion, travel. She returned and finished her degree at F&M, but now was lured from her previous interests in history and writing.

Her work continues on Book Two in The Great War series, tentatively to be called Army of Citizens, with new trips planned to England, France and Belgium.


Visit the other stops on this tour HERE
Twitter Hashtag: #ATaintedDawnVirtualTour

GIVEAWAY: I have one copy of A Tainted Dawn for one winner! Open internationally. To enter, leave a comment below telling me what is your favorite historical fiction novel. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact the winner. Last day to enter will be Friday, March 8 at 11:59pm CST. Good luck!

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- See more at: http://www.techtrickhome.com/2013/02/show-comment-box-above-comments-on.html#sthash.TjHz2Px9.dpuf